The present invention relates generally to a navigation apparatus for use on a vehicle for navigating it to its destination. More specifically, the present invention relates to a navigation apparatus for navigating a vehicle by means of symbolic sounds in addition to maps and voice messages.
Related-art navigation apparatuses receive signals from a plurality of GPS (Global Positioning System) satellites, detect a current position, and display map data corresponding to the detected current position onto a display device, thereby providing safe and reliable navigation to destination with an additional help of automatic routing capability.
In these navigation apparatuses, the display device displays not only the information directly necessary for navigation but also the correlation between the surroundings in which the vehicle is traveling and such objects displayed on a map of the navigation apparatus as mountain, river or sea for example. Some of these navigation apparatuses additionally provide general geographical and sightseeing information by sounding from a speaker sightseeing guide messages when the vehicle approaches a sightseeing spot for example.
On these related-art navigation apparatuses, the user must keep looking at the display device to search for objects displayed on maps of navigation apparatuses representing the surroundings. It is generally difficult for the user to quickly identify a desired object on a navigator map from many of those sequentially displayed in forms that change as the vehicle travels.
Another shortcoming of these related-art navigation apparatuses lies in that, if, for example, a forest providing a wild-bird habitat or a cliff toward which tidal waves sweep is an object on a navigator map displayed on the display device, and when the vehicle approaches the forest or the cliff, at best a message about it is voiced from the speaker. The user can hear from the speaker no sounds representing the chirping of birds or the sound of waves for example.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a navigation apparatus capable of correctly informing the user of a current vehicle position by means of symbolic sounds such as naturally sounding bird""s chirping and tidal wave sound for example in addition to the normal navigation by means of maps and voiced messages, thereby making the user feel as if put in the natural environment in which the user is driving, making the drive secure and comfortable.
In carrying out the invention and according to one aspect thereof, there is provided a navigation apparatus comprising: a command signal inputting means for inputting a command signal for selecting an operation mode of navigation; a current position detecting means for detecting a current position of a vehicle on which the navigation apparatus is installed and supplying current positional information; a data reading means for reading, from an information storage medium storing map data, voice guidance data, data of an object indicative of a geographical location displayed on a map corresponding to the map data, and sound data symbolizing the geographical location corresponding to the object, the map data, the voice guidance data, the object data, and the sound data, on the basis of the command signal and the current positional information; and a navigation control means for displaying a map corresponding to the map data and an object corresponding to the object data read by the data reading means onto a display device and outputting a voice guidance corresponding to the voice guidance data and a sound corresponding to the sound data from a speaker.